San Luis Obispo man named CEO of Go Daddy

Update: San Luis Obispo resident Blake Irving has been named chief executive officer of Go Daddy.com, the world’s largest provider of web hosting and domain-name registration.

Irving, who was corporate vice president at Microsoft and most recently served as chief product officer for Yahoo!, said Go Daddy was a good fit professionally and personally.

He had been a Go Daddy customer for many years and was impressed by the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company’s culture and staff.

“I liked their energy, their dedication, and the way they thought about things,” said Irving, who was approached by the company and started conversations with the company’s leadership last spring. “I liked the edginess of the company and the hardworking, fun-loving attitude of the people.”

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Irving, who reached a final agreement with the company more than a week ago, will begin work Jan. 7. Irving was in Scottsdale Tuesday for a town hall meeting with interim CEO, Scott Wagner, and founder Bob Parsons, who said in a prepared statement that Irving’s “deep technology experience and his history of developing new cutting-edge products and leading large global teams make him an enormously compelling choice to drive Go Daddy to the next level of its domestic and global growth.”

Irving is excited about the company’s expansion into international markets as well as its emphasis on providing a greater product focus and building a “huge platform for business,” he said.

As the new CEO, Irving looks forward to listening to customers and talking to people inside the company so that he can assess what needs to be done in the near term and solidify a long-term vision.

But as enthusiastic as he is about starting his new position, Irving is thrilled that he will be able to continue to call San Luis Obispo home.

“”There are three direct flights a day (from SLO to Phoenix),” he said. “It’s easier to get here (Scottsdale) than to the Bay Area.”

Original: Blake Irving, a San Luis Obispo resident who most recently served as chief product officer for Yahoo, has been named chief executive officer of Go Daddy, the world’s largest provider of Web hosting and domain-name registration.

In a news release issued Tuesday, Go Daddy said Irving will start work on Jan. 7.

"Go Daddy is fortunate to have Blake Irving join the team for the next chapter in his longtime career as an innovator," Scott Wagner, Go Daddy's interim CEO, said in the news release. "I’m thrilled for Blake and I am thrilled for Go Daddy. We have good momentum on product and our international growth and having someone with Blake’s talent and character lead the company will only accelerate it.”

Go Daddy founder and Executive Chairman Bob Parsons said Irving’s “deep technology experience and his history of developing new cutting-edge products and leading large global teams make him an enormously compelling choice to drive Go Daddy to the next level of its domestic and global growth. Go Daddy has made great strides with Scott Wagner as CEO, and we look forward to building on that in the future.”

Before going to Yahoo, Irving spent 15 years at Microsoft, serving in various senior roles, most recently as corporate vice president.

Go Daddy has More than 3,260 employees and 600 in-house developers. It provides 24-hour service to customers from nine facilities in America and India. Its corporate headquarters is in Scottsdale, Ariz.